The Community Cooker: Jiko Ya Jamii
In many developing countries Local Authority refuse collection and responsible disposal has ceased.
Where refuse collection continues it is generally in the hands of private companies who charge for their services. These collection costs are far beyond the budgets of lower income communities, and so in these very vulnerable areas refuse piles up in heaps, along pathways and roadsides, on open ground and in storm water drains and rots, where it is biodegradable. The rest is forever a blight on the landscape polluting the air and the ground water, and being picked over by cows, chickens and goats, which ultimately are food for their lower income owners.
Where refuse collection is in the hands of commercial refuse collection organizations it is very often disposed of irresponsibly. Dumped over open green hillsides where it slides down into the valleys and so into our fresh water systems. Where refuse is still, on very rare occasions, collected by Local Authorities it is usually carted to massive refuse dump sites, where crude recycling is a dirty and risky business, often in the hands of cartels. What is left at the end of this process either rots, and oozes into the ground, polluting the ground water or cannot decompose, and so it is there forever.
This is known as Civilization!
“Civilization